Evidence status: ENACTED JULY 10, 2026 / GENERALLY EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2027. New Hampshire enacted Chapter 282, HB 241-FN, creating a new chronic-pain insurance-access framework. As of October 4, 2026, the substantive coverage provisions are not yet in effect.
What the 2026 law does
Beginning January 1, 2027, health carriers must develop, under Insurance Department guidelines, a program providing access to a broad spectrum of covered pain-management services for chronic pain.
Services contemplated
The statute expressly includes non-medication and nonsurgical options and non-opioid medication alternatives, including restorative therapies, behavioral-health approaches, and integrative therapies such as acupuncture, chiropractic and osteopathic treatments, massage, and movement therapies.
No prior authorization to access the program
Health carriers may not require prior authorization merely to access the chronic-pain management program.
Utilization controls cannot favor opioids
For clinically appropriate non-opioid drugs used to treat or manage pain, carriers may use utilization controls, but those controls may not be more restrictive or extensive than the least restrictive controls applied to a clinically appropriate opioid drug.
Legislative findings matter
The General Court’s findings state that policy responses to the opioid crisis created barriers to opioid therapy without creating adequate access to alternatives and caused harm to people in pain. The law is therefore relevant context for understanding New Hampshire’s current chronic-pain policy even though it does not repeal the written-treatment-agreement mandate.
Relationship to Contract for Care
Chapter 282 expands access to alternatives and addresses insurance barriers. It does not amend RSA 318-B:41(c)(1), so the statutory written-treatment-agreement requirement remains in place unless separately changed.
Primary source
Reviewed: October 4, 2026.